Door for a garage and the like swingable overhead



Dec. 8,1970 H. HORMANN ETAL 3,545,132

DOOR FOR A GARAGE AND THE LIKE SWINGABLE OVERHEAD Filed Jan. 10, 1969 v3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 8, 197 0 n H. HORMANN EII'AL 3,545,132

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l I I2?- HI I 'FIq9 i l 5 IL I! HI I Patented Dec. 8, 1970 3,545,132DOOR FOR A GARAGE AND THE LIKE SWINGABLE OVERHEAD Hermann Hormann,Amshausen, Steinhagen, Westphalia,

and Karl Osthushenrich, Woltorf, near Peine, Germany,

assignors to Hormann KG, Amshausen, Steinhagen,

Westphalia, Germany Filed Jan. 10, 1969, Ser. No. 790,365 Claimspriority, application Germany, Jan. 12, 1968, '0 9,792; July 8, 1968, H63,270 Int. Cl. E05f 11/54 US. Cl. 49-200 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A tiltable door mounted in a door frame for swinging movementoverhead comprises rotatably mounted drivable rollers adjacent the upperedge of the door. The rollers are engaged in horizontally extendingstationary guide rails, and a compensating arm is provided on each sideof the door and pivotally connected to the door frame portions adjacentthe respective sides of the door. One end of each compensating arm ishingedly connected adjacent the lower edge of the door. The effectivelength of the lever arm of each compensating arm can be varied betweenits hinged connection to the door and is pivotal connection to the doorframe. The ends of each compensating arm adjacent the door are mountedon a two armed intermediate lever. One arm of the intermediate lever isconnected to the door and the other arm is engaged by an adjustablespring connected to the compensating arm.

This invention concerns improvements in or relating to doors such asgarage doors of the type which can be swung overhead, which are guidedby means of preferably drivable rollers which are rotatably mountedthereon in the region of the upper edge of the door and run insubstantially horizontally arranged, stationary rails and to which doorsin the region of the lower edge are hingedly connected one end of eachof two compensating arms, which are pivotably mounted on the oppositelongitudinal members of the door frame, the other ends of thesecompensating arms each being connected to a tension spring secured tothe door frame.

For moving a door, particularly a garage door numerous operating meansare known, some of which are based on the principle of providing aweight compensation so as to move the door panel more easily. For thispurpose a shaft, engaged by and acted on by at least one torsion spring,is provided, each end of which shaft carries a cable drum, by means ofwhich drums cables each of which engage one end of the side surfaces ofthe door panel, can be wound when the door is opened. The door panel ofsuch doors consists preferably of several, hingedly interconnected partswhich are so guided by rollers mounted thereon in rails that in the openposition the door panel extends substantially in the horizontal plane.For constructions of doors which are substantially rigid operatingmechanisms are known, which comprise an operating shaft which is mountedon the upper end of the door panel and can be rotated, for example, byan electromotive driving mechanism, each end of this shaft carrying aroller guided in upper horizontal guide rails. By rotation of theoperating shaft, the rollers are then rotated and since at least theirouter surfaces are made of a material which makes good frictionalcontact with the material of the guide rails, the opening of the door iseffected by the rollers pushing along the guide rails and thus urgingthe door panel into the open position. In such operating mechanisms aweight compensation is also provided by means of spring-loadedcompensating arms.

The present invention takes as its starting point preferably operatingmechanisms of the type last mentioned above, in which particularly thephenomenon has to be taken into account that during the initial openingmove ment of the door panel the rollers move in a curved path in thesubstantially horizontally disposed stationary rails. If care is nottaken to ensure that during this initial stage the rollers remain infrictional contact with these guide rails, difficulties occur whenopening the door, in which connection it should be taken into accountthat, as a rule, compared to the diameter of the rollers, the guiderails have a larger open cross section in order to facilitate thisinitial curved movement of the rollers and to prevent the guide railsbeing torn from their anchorage. The statements made here on the initialstage of opening a door obviously also apply to the end stage of theclosing action, i.e. when the door has been moved back from its openposition into its closed position.

In order to deal with the above-mentioned problem it has already beenproposed for doors of the abovementioned kind to mount the ends of theguide rails which are adjacent the door frame so that they will beadjustable in height and to bias them by means of a spring in such a waythat the rails can carry out movements in height and their contactsurfaces are continuously kept in frictional contact with the rollers.Hence when the movement of the door necessitates a deviation dur ing theinitial stage of opening or during the final stage of closing, this iseffected against the resistance of such springs, and these will thencause the rollers to be kept in continuous frictional contact with theirrails. According to a further proposal for dealing with this problem,the rollers are mounted in spring-loaded bearings which are movable asregards their spacing from the door panel so that frictional contact canbe maintained by means of corresponding movements of the rollers.

Particularly when taking into account the point of view that it is oftendesirable to convert doors originally arranged for manual operation intoautomatically opening and closing doors by associating a suitableoperating device therewith, it is an object of the invention to providefor a door of the above-mentioned type, which can be swung overhead, adevice which, even in a manually operated door subsequently convertedinto an automatically opening and closing door by associating anoperating mechanism therewith, controls without considerable buildingcosts the problem arising from the fact that in the initial stage ofopening and in the final stage of closing, the rollers follow a curvedpath and that as a result the frictional contact between the rollers andthe substantially horizontally arranged, stationary guide rails may belost. The device according to the invention should thus likewise ensurea continuous frictional contact between the rollers and their guiderails.

This object is achieved in a door of the above-mentioned type, which maybe swung overhead, and according to the invention in that the effectivelever arm of each compensating arm, between the hinge point of thecompensating arm on the door and its pivotal axis on the door frame isvariable in length. If use is made of this condition this has theconsequence that during any desired phase of the opening or closing therollers rest with a certain component of the weight of the door panel onthe guide rails. Consequently the frictional contact between the rollersand their guide rails adjusts itself automatically during the workingcycle of opening and closing. The size of the weight of the door panelwill be automatically taken into account in this manner. If the weightof the door is high, the weight load on the rollers is high and thefrictional contact between the rollers and their guide rails will thenbe correspondingly large. On the other hand, with a door of low weight,the weight component acting on the rollers is correspondingly less as isthe frictional contact between the rollers and their guide rails.

The variation of the effective lever arm of each compensating armbetween its hinge point on the door and its pivotal axis on the doorframe can be carried out in any desired manner. Firstly it is possibleto provide the compensating arms at their ends near the door panel withan elongate slot for the hinge pin fixed to the door panel; additionallyalso preferably adjustable springs can be provided which tend to urgethe hinge pins in the direction of the end of the elongate slot adjacentthe end of the compensating arm. Dependent on the magnitude ofadjustment of their spring force, such springs can influence themagnitude of the force which can be transmitted by frictional contact,that is the weight of the door panel. It is furthermore possible tohingedly connect the door panel ends of the compensating arms to pointsalong the length of twoarmed intermediate arms, one end of which ispivotably mounted on the door panel, and the other end of which isconnected to a preferably adjustable spring which acts in the verticaldirection and is connected to a point along the compensating arm. It isalso possible to provide in the region of the pivotal axis of thecompensating arms on the door frame an elongate slot for the hinge pinssupporting the compensating arms on the frame.

A variation in length of the effective lever arm between the hinge ofthe compensating arms on the door and their pivotal axis on the doorframe is also made possible in that the compensating arms in the regionbetween their hinge point on the door and their pivotal axis on the doorframe are made from two parts which are guided so as to be movable withrespect to each other to a limited extent. It can thus be advantageousto provide adjacent ends of the two parts with a projection or the likewhich passes through the opening of a sleeve or the like envelopingthese parts. As seen in the direction of movement of the parts, theopening must then have a length which is greater than the thickness ofthe two projections or the like.

The above-mentioned possibilities show that the invention can be putinto practice in a number of ways. A particularly simple and veryelegant embodiment resides in replacing one of the hinge pins formounting the compensating arms on the door or door frame in existingdoors by a new hinge pin of smaller diameter, Whilst also increasing thebore with which this cooperates to a greater or less extent.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference tosome embodiments byway of example shown in the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a side view, partially in section, of a tilting door of agarage, incorporating the invention,

FIG. 2 shows, to a larger scale, a detail of the door according to FIG.1 with one embodiment according to the invention for changing the lengthof the effective lever arm between the hinge point on the door and itspivotal axis on the door frame,

FIG. 3 shows to a larger scale a detail of the door according to FIG. 1,showing a further embodiment according to the invention,

FIG. 4 shows to a larger scale a third possible embodiment,

FIGS. 5 and 6 show selectively usable operating means for a locking boltfixed to the door,

FIG. 7 is a side view corresponding to FIG. 1 of a door according to theinvention, showing a further embodiment of the device according to theinvention,

FIG. 8 shows to a larger scale a detail of the embodiment according toFIG. 7, and

FIG. 9 is a side view of the detail according to FIG. 8.

The door which can be swung overhead, shown in FIGS. 1 and 7, comprisesadoor frame 1 to be fixed to the brickwork or the like, on which a doorpanel is supported and guided in the manner usual in tilting doors forgarages or halls. Substantially horizontally arranged, stationary rails3 which are supported under the garage ceiling and are in most casesrigidly connected to the door frame 1, serve to guide the door panel. Inthese rails 3, rollers 4 are guided which are rotatably mounted on thedoor panel in the region of its upper edge and which are operativelyconnected with a driving motor 5 fixed on the door panel. When therollers 4 are rotated by the motor 5, the door panel 2 is thus pulledinto its open position or pushed into its closed position.

In the region of the lower edge of the door panel 2, one end of twocompensating arms 6 is hingedly connected at 7, by means of a hinge pinwhich can be mounted in a bracket 8. At the other end these compensatingarms 6 are pivotably mounted at 9 to opposed longitudinal members of thedoor frame 1, also 9 being a hinge pin which is mounted in a bracket 10.The free end of the compensating arms 6 is engaged by a tension spring11 at 12, the other end of which is secured at 13 to an angle plate 14which is rigidly connected to the door frame 1.

The door which can be swung overhead, and which consists of a door frameand a door panel, of preferably drivable rollers which are guided instationary rails and are rotatably mounted opposite the upper edge ofthe door panel, and of spring-loaded compensating arms which arearranged on the sides of the door panel and mounted on the door panel onone side and on the door frame on the other side, can be assumed to beknown as far as described up to now. The present invention will now bedescribed in more detail, particularly with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4and 8 and 9.

It is important for doors of the type described above, which can beswung overhead, that the rollers 4 are continuously kept in frictionalcontact with their guide rails 3. If this frictional contact is notmaintained, the rollers are not able to pull the door panel 2 into itsopen position or correspondingly to urge it into its closed position.During the initial phase of opening and during the end phase of closing,the phenomenon now arises that the rollers try to detach themselves fromthe surface of their guide rail the width of opening of which is greaterthan the diameter of the rollers which seek to travel through a curvedpath. If, however, the rollers are detached for even only a moment fromthe surface of their guide rails, the necessary frictional contactceases so that the rollers will idle. In order to avoid such an idlingor slipping, it is now proposed by the present invention to change theeffective length of the lever arm of each compensating arm, between thehinge 7 of the compensating arms 6 on the door panel 2 and the bearing 9of the compensating arms on the door frame 1. This can be brought aboutespecially on existing doors in a most simple manner in that the bearinghole in the supporting member 8 for,

the hinge pin 7 or the bearing hole in the bracket 10 for the hinge pin9 is enlarged or, however and if desired, additionally the hinge pins 7and 9 used are replaced by new pins of smaller diameters, in which casehowever it must first be ascertained whether hinge pins of smallerdiameter still have sufiicient strength.

In the embodiment according to FIG. 2, a variation of the length of theeflective lever arms of the compensating arms 6 is brought in that theirend adjacent the door panel are provided with an elongated slot 15through which the hinge pin 7 passes. This elongated slot 15 ensuresthat in the closed position of the door panel 2, the rollers 4 thereoflie flush on the contact surface of their guide rails. because theweight of the door panel 2 then rests on the rollers. If by rotating therollers the door panel is pulled into its open position, the tensionsprings 11 of the compensating arms 6 effect a shortening of theeffective lever arm of the compensating arms between their hinge pins 7and 9 in that the compensating arms are displaced relative to the hingepins 7. Furthermore, in FIG. 2, an adjustable helical spring isdesignated by 16 which in its arrangement relative to the compensatingarms fulfils the function of either increasing or decreasing in theclosed position of the door panel, its weight and thus the weightresting on the wheels 4, i.e. always dependent upon the characteristicwhich has been chosen for this compression spring. In the embodimentshown, for example, the lower of the two spring discs on the side of theend face of the spring is secured relative to the compensating arm 6 anda set screw is supported between an angle plate and the pin 7 so that astop is provided for the closed door panel. When the door is open, thecompression spring 16 tends to bring about the relative movement betweencompensating arm 6 and hinge pin 7, ie to such an extent that therollers 4 remain in continuous frictional contact with the surfaces oftheir guide rails.

In the embodiment according to FIG. 3 there is mounted on the hinge pin7 at the door panel end of the compensating arm 6 an intermediate lever17 which for its part carries via a hinge pin 18 the door panel end of acompensating arm 6. The free end of this intermediate lever 17 is actedupon by a preferably adjustable spring 19, the other end of which isfixed on the compensating arm. Also this embodiment makes it possible tochange the length of the effective lever arm of the compensating arms.

In the embodiment according to FIG. 4, the bracket is provided with anelongated hole 12, over the length of which the pin 9 of a compensatingarm 6 can be moved. The door panel end of the compensating arms ismounted in this embodiment without play on the door panel 2 and thebracket 8 fixed thereon.

In the embodiments according to FIGS. 7 to 9, there are provided foreach of the compensating arms 6 in the region of their pins 7 and 9 twoparts 21 and 22 which are guided through a sleeve 23 or the like of ashape corresponding to the cross section of the compensating arms. Thesleeve 23 can be rigidly connected to the part 21; it is only importantthat the part 21 carries the sleeve 23 when the door panel 2 is in itsclosed position.

In this position the parts 21 and 22, or the projections 24 and 25formed thereon must engage one another so that the door panel providedwith a bolt 26 (see FIG. 1) engaging behind a stop, cannot be opened byraising it. Nevertheless the part 22 must be able to move downwardlyrelative to the sleeve 23 in order to ensure that the rollers 4 have acontinuous frictional contact with their guide rails. 1

As regards the bolt 26 which is mounted on the inside of the door panel2 and the height of which is adjustable, it should further be noted withreference to FIGS. 5 and 6 that an automatic release of this bolt can beachieved, for example, in that the shaft carrying the rollers 4 isprovided with a friction clutch and this is again connected via a cableor Bowden wire 28 to the bolt 26,

FIGS. 5 and 6 show two embodiments of such a friction clutch. As seen inFIG. 5 the clutch can consist of two friction discs 29 one of which isrigidly connected to the driven shaft 30 whilst the other is rotatablymounted on this shaft. The rotatably mounted friction disc is pressed bymeans of a spring against the driven disc and carries a connector oranchorage for the cable or Bowden wire 28. In the embodiment of frictionclutch according to FIG. 6, the shaft 30 is formed by two frictionbushings 31 which together surround the shaft in a clamp-like manner andwhich are held together by springs. The cable or Bowden wire 28 is fixedto one of these friction bushings. In both friction clutches there willbe, upon rotation of the shaft and independently of its direction ofrotation, a force produced by the frictional resistance, which exerts apull on the cable or the Bowden wire 28.

What we claim is:

1. A tiltable door mounted in a door frame for swinging movementoverhead and comprising rotatably mounted drivable rollers adjacent theupper edge of the door, substantially horizontally extending stationaryguide rails in which said rollers are engaged, a compensating arm oneach side of the door, pivotally connected to the door frame portionsadjacent the respective sides of the door, one end of each compensatingarm being hingedly connected adjacent the lower edge of the door,tension spring means fixed to said door frame and acting on the otherends of said compensating arms, means for varying the effective lengthof the lever arm of each compensating arm between its hinged connectionto the door and its pivotal connection to the door frame, at the doorpanel ends each compensating arm is provided with an elongate slot for ahinge pin connected to the door, wherein each said slot has anadjustable compression spring associated therewith which spring servesin the closed position of the door to vary the effect of the weight ofthe door.

'2. A tiltable door mounted in a door frame for swinging movementoverhead and comprising rotatably mounted drivable rollers adjacent theupper edge of the door, substantially horizontally extending stationaryguide rails in which said rollers are engaged, a compensating arm oneach side of the door, pivotally connected to the door frame portionsadjacent the respective sides of the door one end of each compensatingarm being hingedly connected adjacent the lower edge of the door,tension spring means fixed to said door frame and acting on the otherends of said compensating arms, and means for varying the effectivelength of the lever arm of each compensating arm between its hingedconnection to the door and its pivotal connection to the door frame,wherein the ends of each compensating arm adjacent the door are mountedon a two armed intermediate lever one arm of which is connected to thedoor while the other arm is engaged by an adjustable spring connected tothe compensating arm.

3. A tiltable door mounted in a door frame for swinging movementoverhead and comprising rotatably mounted drivable rollers adjacent theupper edge of the door, substantially horizontally extending stationaryguide rails in which said rollers are engaged, a compensating arm oneach side of the door, pivotally connected to the door frame portionsadjacent the respective sides of the door one end of each compensatingarm being hingedly connected adjacent the lower edge of the door,tension spring means fixed to said door frame and acting on the otherends of said compensating arms, and means for varying the effectivelength of the lever arm of each compensating arm between its hingedconnection to the door and its pivotal connection to the door frame,wherein each compensating arm, between its hinged connection to the doorand its pivotal connection to the frame, is made of two parts providedwith guide means which permit limited displacement of said partsrelative to one another.

4. A tiltable door according to claim 3 wherein the opposed ends of saidtwo parts each have a projection passing through an opening in a sleevesurrounding said parts, the length of the opening in the direction ofmovement of the parts being greater than the thickness of the twoprojections.

5. A tiltable door as claimed in claim 3 wherein the length of said twoparts is such that they touch one another when the door is closed.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,328,204 8/1943 Ferris 49 2062,405,821 8/1946 Ferris et al 49-206 FOREIGN PATENTS 51,864 7/1936Denmark 49 206 I. KARL BELL, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 49-206

